New Beer Weekend #89

I have never heard of the “Bruce hop blend” before so I just had to look it up:

“The Bruce is a vibrant, aromatic and concentrated blend of Freestyle Hops created in honor of Bruce Eggers. To make The Bruce they've used early Nelson Sauvin, early Motueka, late Pacifica and mid Pacific Jade (that's the picking times). The aroma has fresh gooseberry, citrus peel, ripe tropical fruit and orange blossom. When brewed, the complex aromatics remain true to rubbing.”

https://leagueofbrewers.co.nz/the-bruce-hops-pellets-nz.html

A very interesting and intriguing blend both from a mix of hop varieties perspective but also they had the ability to ‘specify’ harvest timing on these hops. I suspect that most beer consumers do not realize that when a hop is harvested will have a big impact on their flavor profile. In the construction of this blend hop harvest times was part of the selection/blending process.

It will be interesting if in the future the aspect of when a hop is harvested will be ‘advertised’.

Cheers!

P.S. As a homebrewer I buy hops a lot but the best I can do is select hop varieties; I have no clue when those hops were harvested

 

I am going to start the day with a Schwarzbier from Mountains walking
4.34. A classic black lager with no acrid or burnt flavors. The beer has a clean and smooth finish. A delightful beer to drink on a chilly spring day in Idaho.

 

With the announced soon-closing of Tin Whiskers brewery in St. Paul, and what I take to be crocodile tears expressed by a few (discussion in the Midwest forum starts here), when I saw this beer listed, I decided to buy it for one more (perhaps final) beer from them.

As I said in this thread about them, I've only had a few of their beers, and I've never visited their place, but I found them to be competent, even if they tended lately toward pastry/candy bar "styles" not to my preference.

But, a maibock is "to my preference" so, on to the beer.

Tin Whiskers Reverse Breakdown Maibock
ABV: 7.6%
IBU: 27

Crystal clear amber with moderate-to-energetic carbonation below a short, and short-lived, white head.

Strong aroma hits as soon as I crack the can. Bready, mostly, with light fruit and grass.

Bready taste as well, sweet, accompanied by mild fruit - not tropical, not citrus, not... - IDK; "fruit" is the best I can do. Also honey and some floral. This mix of flavors stays throughout the middle and into the finish. There is no bitterness in the flavor, but oddly, the aftertaste does develop some bittering that remains in my mouth, and intensifies a little with each sip, and eventually backs into the flavor proper.

Mouth feel is substantial with the inherent smoothness broken up by the retained bitterness in the aftertaste.

Overall, quite a nice maibock.

L: 3.5 | S: 3.75 | T: 4.0 | F: 4.25 | O: 3.75 | Rating: 3.89

 

I am hoping the BA Vanilla beer from The Bruery is just as good, I am just going to sit on it for a while.

 

Working on my second beer for the day. Bacon & Eggs an Imperial Coffee Porter. The beer is chalked full of coffee, it was difficult to smell anything but coffee. The taste was delightful rich coffee with a firm malt backbone and subtle malt bitterness. The beer was awesome. I am sad to it slowly disappear in my glass.
I gave it: 3.5 | smell: 4.25 | taste: 4.5 | feel: 4 | overall: 4 Finally rating 4.23

 

Got quite a bit of work done today redoing the drainage around my garage. Tractor had a breakage right near the end but I was able to repair it for for tomorrow's continuation. Beer is really beckoning after all that.
As I said in yesterday's WBAYDN, I received a large assortment of Suarez Family Brewing beers this week. Never had anything from them, but I read good things on this site. It almost seems like they will never reopen the tap room after their pandemic closure, so I pulled the trigger and ordered a variety off the Internet.
Starting off with a black lager, River, at 5% ABV.

3.89/5 rDev -4.9%
look: 4.75 | smell: 3.75 | taste: 3.75 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by woodchipper from Connecticut

Poured from a 16oz can stamped “CANNED ON 1.19.22 DRINK BY 6.18.22” to a Nonic at fridge temp.
A non-agressive pour yields an impressive dark beige puffy head of multi sized bubbles. The body is as advertised, even when held to the light. The impressive head only lasts but a few minutes, but a thin one stays and coats the glass with medium lacing almost to the bottom of the glass.
Malt dominates the sniff, but it hints that this might be on the sweet side.
This tastes like a decent porter, but on the thin side. It's quite malty and yes, a little sweeter than a good bitter porter but finishes dry. Earthy notes of charcoal and the Maillard reaction.
The mouth feel is fairly light, after all it is a lager.
Overall this is really good especially if you look at it as a crushable porter.

 

Wow! The graphics on that website/link is pretty awesome.

In this months issue of Zymurgy (AHA magazine) there is an article entitled "Amping Up Hop Aromatics with Terpenes". There are products (liquids with bottles with eyedroppers) which contain terpenes which are derived via steam distillation of various food products (e.g., oranges, etc.) which can then be added to the beer to 'simulate' hop aromas/flavors.

Lots of new stuff out there to give Hop Heads more 'stimulation'.

Cheers!

 

Hey, NBWers,

Right now it's mostly cloudy in the wilds of Spokanistan, 48°, and it was raining a little while earlier, with the possibility of more to come. People here are slowly coming to terms with the fact that Gonzaga is not moving beyond the Sweet 16.

It's possible there will be several new beers posted from me this weekend. I'll add more about that in a little bit, but for now let me tell you about last weekend. I missed posting here because I was out of town, visiting my parents, who live approximately 150 miles to the southwest of my current digs. I visited several local breweries while I was there, along with a tap room that is an outpost of a small brewery in the town across the river in Franklin county. Unfortunately, time did not allow for posting on NBW. However, I did spend some enjoyable time with my folks. Got a couple late birthday presents to my Dad, some high-speed driving was done in the parental Corvette, and I went hiking with my Dad for about an hour in the lower Horse Heaven Hills. I also picked up 48 ounces of beers for my NBS BIF target that will probably be shipping on Tuesday.

Anyway, it's beer time. Today's beer comes from @jonphisher, who fiendishly ninja'd my porch with 80 ounces of NJ and PA beers. A zwickelbier from Human Robot was dispatched on Thursday, and now it's time for a mild ale from Tonewood to be consumed.

https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/46284/373305/?ba=woemad#lists
Really nice dark mild that I could drink all day. Thanks, Jon!

 

Not just my first Julius, but my first Tree House beer period. Got two of these (and two cans of Green) courtesy of a friend who went up to MA for a wedding near Sturbridge. I’ve never traveled out of state for beer (or more than one county over in state), so I’d likely never have gotten to drink either beer otherwise. Lucky me!
The most orange juice-like in color of any NEIPA I’ve ever had. I’ve never consumed an Orange Julius (what I assume is the namesake of this beer), but I doubt it could have a much smoother mouthfeel. Aromatic af, redolent with all the fruits mentioned on the can, and then some. And flavors are every bit as dramatic and diverse. Not sure any beer deserves a 100 rating, but this one sure comes close.

 

And up 2nd- Swarez Family Brewery Estimation. This is a 4.8% Alt beer.
4.03/5 rDev -2.9%
look: 4.5 | smell: 4 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4
by woodchipper from Connecticut

Poured from a 16oz can stamped “CANNED ON 12.0.21 DRINK BY 4.6.22” (wew, just under the 4-day wire!) to a Pilsner glass at fridge temp.
This beer has a topographical map of a puffy head of multi sized bubbles that lasts and lasts. The body is a deep dark caramel yet some nucleation bubbles can be seen through this curtain. Aroma is malty and of freshly turned loam.
The taste brings that loamy aroma to the tongue and turns it to subtle caramel notes. Hops are not hidden by any of that, they shine through in the finish.
The mouth feel is medium with a hint of oiliness but good carbonation clears that out.
Overall a fine Alt beer and this particular can gave me no indication it was about to "expire".

 

I can't help but be reminded of this:

 

@woodchipper You say you bought someone online, as in they offer for delivery? Or some other arrangement?

I picked up a few new ones, all lagers, specifically for this NBW. So Hi folks. Trust everyone is enjoying a quiet/busy Saturday depending on your persuasion.

This is Zatecky Svelty Lezak (forgive the punctuation). A Polish/Euro pale lager. I used to drink these Euro pales all the time, especially Polish options but my palate kind of soured on them. Long story short, I spent a bit too much time around a bigot who happened to enjoy Polish beers and I dunno, it stopped tasting as good to me shortly after that.

So this is my return attempt. I hadn't seen this in the store before so I picked it up thinking it would be fresh.



Not much to be said really. If you've had the Zywiec, OK, Lech et al, you've had a good show of this sort of beer, it's tasty. Really nothing to complain about. I will say there's less of that sweetness, at least up front, comes through later. Packaging looks cool as well.

I mostly feel it's just lacking in hop presence but that's kind of to style. Lots of grassy character, some malt sweetness, clean palate and a sharp schwick at the end to close it out. Moderately bitter there as well.

Enjoy the beers and cheers to choosing the right company

 

Good afternoon NBW
I've been meaning to get some lower ABV beer for the fridge and this one caught my eye.

Leinenkugel's Sunshine Light Lager

12oz can stamped MAY0922 poured into a pint glass at 53°Fahrenheit 3.4% ABV 99 calories per label. The beer pours very bright light golden yellow with bone colored head. The head recedes to an uneven ring and leaves a little lacing. The aroma is mild with sweet pale malt and a hint of floral hops. The taste is light pale malt with with a grassy hop flavor before a mineral heavy, barely bitter finish. The mouthfeel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a dry finish. Overall, good.

I'll be back with something more interesting later on. Cheers all!

 

I would have thought the "Hello Bruce" sketch would have occurred first:

 

Have a good nbw. Me and Julia are in Martha's vineyard for the week. Got in Boston around 3 after an overnight layover. I finished Angel's and demons on the flight. Got my mom's jeep from park and fly and got 2 gram carts at a shop up the street.



Parked at harpoon. Really busy tonight but as expected. Trillium is nearby but probably would have been worse lol


Got the Irish stout on nitro. Awesome stuff. Aromas and flavors of milk/dark chocolate, cocoa, coffee, nuts, toast, dark bread, herbal, grass, pepper, light smoke/dark fruit. Moderate herbal/ char bitterness. Creamy/silky lt med body. Drying sticky/chalky finish. Very clean and nicely rich malts with balanced hops. Loved it. One of the best Irish stouts I've had in a while. 4.21


Cheers

 

Back with another mass produced option. Beck's.

I've had this once before a while back I think.



Pretty easy drinking, this is in that Bitburger, Konig vein. It's quite clean and very drinkable. Much more bitter character than the previous option. This just reminds me more of the export lagers I grew up drinking. Big (contextually), robust, fuller, maltier and more bitter.

Not saying Beck's is a great beer, but I mean, it's not bad. Maybe not for everyone but something I sure don't mind. Cheers.